But not a bit of it. Musically, this is a highly creditable evening, with fine singing and a well-contoured shaping of the score by the Austrian conductor, Dietfried Bernet.

At the start, it seemed that this might not be the case, since his reading of the prelude was one of spiritless languor, sapped of emotional energy. However, his interpretation gradually found its own momentum, with a great deal of poise and pliability, so that it grew organically in stature and achieved its climaxes with nobility and passion.

There was sinew and light in his conducting. The orchestra responded with playing of richness and lucid detail.

This is the first revival of David Alden's 1996 staging. The designs by Ian MacNeil are a bit of a teaser but not maddeningly so.

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At the beginning, Isolde and Brangane seem to be living out of a couple of trunks in the ruins of a grand, bricked-up theatre, preserving in a hatbox the severed head of Isolde's former betrothed, Morold. Is this "a boat bound for Cornwall", as the stage directions would have us believe?

Well, no, it's not, but as the evening progresses the eye becomes oblivious to the scenery because Alden's careful treatment of movement and character relationships tends to take over as the principal focus.

There is a smoothness to the action, a seamless, sensuous sinuousness. The stage is used to give space and air to the drama in a way that enhances the opera's more pensive passages and allows personality to evolve with time.

ENO has assembled an excellent cast, with Susan Bullock and Jane Irwin superbly surmounting the challenges of Isolde and Brangane. Singing Andrew Porter's eloquent English translation, they enunciate every word not only with clarity but also with a depth of understanding as to the underlying meaning and implications.

David Rendall is the Tristan, strong on stamina but with a muzzy vibrato that masks the line and only hints that the right note must be in there somewhere. Matthew Best and Jonathan Summers are strong as King Mark and Kurwenal. Altogether a fulfilling six hours.